Chapter 117: Mortal Enemy

The sun rose, its gentle light slanting down and bathing the land in gold.

Faint smoke haze drifted above Tongcheng; the Hanging Curtains atop the wall hung sparse and tattered, and the battlements everywhere bore black scorch marks from fire and smoke.

The wilderness swarmed with heads — tens of thousands of Roving Bandits massed in the South Suburb and East Suburb. The great Yellow Banner and a Great Red Banner were both in the South Suburb, while another troop pushed carts toward the West Suburb.

By Pang Yu's experienced estimate, there were no fewer than thirty thousand outside the city, with Servants forming the main force. Their level of organization was not high, but when thrown into a city assault, they could leverage their advantage in manpower.

Tongcheng's wall top was packed densely as well. Every Community Soldier in the city was up there, numbering over three thousand. Below the wall, the elderly, women, and children still ferried supplies upward, while some mobilized able-bodied refugees hauled stone blocks.

Last night's fire burned half the night. The bandits ceaselessly loosed Rockets from outside the city; the Watchman's Clapper and brass gongs rang without pause, and almost no one in the city could sleep. The bandits' fire-attack tactic both destroyed the Hanging Curtains and exhausted the defenders — Pang Yu, at least, dared not sleep the entire night.

Pang Yu dared not hang cotton quilts again. The cloth sent up from below the wall was gradually being hung on wooden frames, and the Community Soldiers busily doused it with water, but there was not enough cloth to cover every position.

Judging from the bandit troop concentrations, today's main force had shifted to South City. Several thousand still moved along Zilai Street, directed by a Great Red Banner, carrying dozens of bamboo ladders and many objects resembling square tables.

The focus had shifted to Nanxun Gate. There were fewer houses outside South City; though they lacked cover, they could exploit their numerical advantage.

At the front of the South Suburb array, a long line of large carts had been placed, along with many tables and desks, nearly filling the entire frontage of the South Wall. Near Wuyin Temple, bandits were still digging pits — for what purpose, no one knew.

Behind the carts, bamboo ladders clustered thickly, perhaps over a hundred of them. Among the Servants further back were countless door planks, each carried by several men. The array stretched outward, nearly blanketing the countryside as far as the eye could see.

Yang Erming's face was pale. Everyone on the wall was shaken by this display of force.

"Pang Squad Leader, the Roving Bandits mean to assault Tongcheng from three sides."

"Your Honor, they want to stretch the battle line and disperse our strength. It looks like three sides, but the west outside the city is full of Tang Lake and cut off by Tong Stream — only the gate tower position can deploy troops. The west can only be a feint. In truth, they are attacking the east and south sides. We also have tens of thousands; defending only two sides of the wall, we still hold the advantage."

Yang Erming said, astonished, "Where do these tens of thousands come from?"

"Today, whether man or woman, old or young, everyone must fight for their homeland. As long as we unite with a single will, we can surely beat them back."

Yang Erming nodded, then looked at Pang Yu and nodded with certainty. "As Pang Squad Leader says, today this official will also take the field."

Pang Yu was about to offer a few flattering words when Wang Zenglu, who had been keeping watch at Nanxun Gate, loudly warned, "Honorable Magistrate, Squad Leader — look over at Wuyin Temple."

The two looked that way and saw a long column of common folk being marched out under guard — nearly two hundred captured civilians in all, mostly women and the elderly. Their hands were bound behind their backs. They were made to kneel in several rows, each before a freshly dug pit, with two or three Servants standing beside each one.

Those pits were only half a man's height deep, the excavated earth piled right beside them, and the openings were not large — not enough to bury a person alive. For beheading, the pits seemed a bit too large. Though he did not know the exact purpose, Pang Yu knew it could not be anything good.

Pang Ding beside him quietly asked, "Should we hang up those two bandits we captured last night?"

"No." Pang Yu shook his head. "We only need to hold the city. Do not deliberately provoke the bandits."

Before Pang Ding could speak again, a mounted bandit had already spurred his horse to the base of the wall. Carrying a small round shield, he shouted up at the wall top, "My master, the Sweeping King, has graced Tongcheng with his presence! He commands your County Magistrate Yang Erming to immediately burn incense, set up an altar, and welcome him in!"

A wave of curses erupted from the Community Soldiers on the wall. Since the man was still some distance away, their stones could not reach him, so they hurled roof tiles instead — the tiles also fell a little short. A few Medicine Crossbowmen of the Yang Family Head shot arrows at him. The crossbows they used were for hunting mountain game and could not compare to the military Jue Zhang Crossbow Pang Yu had once used; their range and power were inferior, which was why they smeared poison on the arrowheads and waited for the animals to die from the toxin.

The rider seemed to have anticipated this. The moment he saw arrows loosed, he shielded his upper body with the round shield, wheeled his horse, and galloped far out of range. He returned to that Red Banner, reported to the bandit chief for a moment, and then the bandit chief waved a hand toward Wuyin Temple.

The Servants beside those pits acted simultaneously, stuffing the common folk headfirst into the holes — like planting trees, planting a person upside down. The wails of those people shook heaven and earth, yet not a single one resisted, allowing the bandits to bury them.

Once the common folk were all inserted head-down into the pits, their cries became muffled and hollow. Then a fierce shout rose from the Servant crowd, and men immediately began shoveling in earth. The soil quickly submerged their mouths and noses. As the Servants pushed the earth in, they stamped it down firm with their feet.

Only then did those people begin to struggle. Their bodies twisted ceaselessly, their legs kicked wildly up and down. Some legs stretched rigidly straight, trembling violently as if sifting chaff. Hundreds of feet danced eerily in the air — utterly silent.

The defenders atop the wall stood as if stupefied, watching everything unfold below the city.

Pang Yu was also dumbstruck. All his life, the people he had dealt with were no pious souls; he had experienced many fierce conflicts. But he had never imagined that such a scene could exist in this world.

Those buried people posed no threat to those bandits and bore them no hatred, yet they suffered such brutal treatment. For a moment, he felt as if he could hardly breathe.

The wall top was utterly silent, a suffocating stillness. Only after a long while did someone begin to weep quietly. Not far from Pang Yu, Wang Wenyao covered his face and sobbed aloud.

Outside the city, the hundreds of writhing legs gradually stilled, then drooped limp and soft — like a gravestone made of legs and feet.

"Worse than beasts." Yang Erming's voice trembled as he murmured the words.

A rider dashed out from beneath the Yellow Banner, spurring his horse at full gallop to outside Nanxun Gate. Without slowing, he rose slightly in the saddle and shot an arrow toward the wall top.

With a thud, the arrow struck the door plank of the City Tower — it did not embed itself but fell to the ground.

A letter was tied to the arrowhead. A Community Soldier picked it up and delivered it to Yang Erming. Yang Erming read it for a moment, ground his teeth for a moment, then handed it to Pang Yu. "Pang Squad Leader, you reply."

On the letter paper were written sixteen characters: "Fly to take Tongcheng. Surrender the city, take the wealth. Break through, slaughter all. You decide yourselves."

Pang Yu studied it briefly. The meaning was simply that they were determined to take Tongcheng and wanted the city to surrender. That display just now was, he realized, their opening show of force.

"Reply. Write five characters."

He Xianya hurriedly responded, "Which five characters?"

Pang Yu looked coldly at the Red Banner outside the city. "'Fly' is written wrong."

Wang Wenyao, tears still on his face, let out a loud laugh upon hearing this. "I will write it!"

With that, he strode into the gate tower.

The City Tower fell quiet again. Pang Yu watched those legs outside the city that no longer moved. Suddenly, he braced both hands on the lower edge of a battlement gap, vaulted onto the gap, then stepped up onto the battlement itself, standing tall atop the City Wall.

Not only could the nearby Community Soldiers on the wall see him — the tens of thousands of bandits below the wall were also drawn to fix their eyes on him. From the bandits' angle, a lone yamen runner stood starkly silhouetted against the skyline of the city wall.

The surrounding Community Soldiers unconsciously gathered closer. Pang Yu swept his gaze over the soldiers below the wall — face after unfamiliar face. Before today, they had merely lived in the same city, without any bond of feeling, but now, suddenly, they felt so dear.

Pang Yu stretched out his hand, pointing at the city before them, and shouted to them, "Who can tell me — what lies in the city behind you?"

One Community Soldier shouted, "Houses! And my old mother!"

"Well said! What else?"

Another Community Soldier answered, "Wife and children, brothers — my whole family is in the city."

"Well said! Parents, wives and children, brothers — we are all in this city. Our homes are in this city." Pang Yu's face twitched. "Behind you are your families. Today, at this moment of life and death, they have no other support. Their only support is you. If you flee from this wall, one hour from now, you will watch them buried upside down in the earth just like that."

Pang Yu pointed toward Wuyin Temple. The nearby Community Soldiers listened intently to his words; every face held both fear and fierce indignation.

They did not know about places too far away, but the horrors at Lujiang and Chao County had already spread. Civil unrest like Huang Wending's was merely a local power struggle that hardly harmed ordinary commoners — everyone could sit back and watch the excitement, maybe even profit along the way. But what they faced today was life or death for every person in the entire city. That scene just now was something these people living in Nanzhili had never witnessed even in their deepest nightmares.

"Do not think you can survive by the enemy's mercy — because they have no mercy. You are all the heads of your households. Today, this wall is your home; it is the lives of your wives, children, and parents. If you must die, die on this city wall. Die on this wall, and your families can live on in the city. Today, I ask all of you to bear witness: I, Pang Yu, if I do not beat back the Roving Bandits today, will absolutely never leave this wall alive."

Yang Erming, stirred, shouted, "This official swears an oath: until the bandits retreat, this official will absolutely never leave this wall alive."

All the Community Soldiers and Guards were visibly moved. Pang Yu knew the moment had come — now he needed to transform their fear into courage.

Pang Yu raised his right hand and shouted with all his might, "Kill the Bandits, Protect the Homeland!"

The Community Soldiers and Guards roared back in unison, "Kill the Bandits, Protect the Homeland!"

The fierce emotion spread rapidly. Cries of "Protect the Homeland" rang out everywhere along the wall, rippling wave after wave down its length.

Pang Yu saw that the atmosphere had grown heated and had already achieved the goal of rousing morale. Although the people at other positions could not hear this rousing speech, the atmosphere here would spread outward, and morale would naturally rise.

He immediately jumped down from the battlements and said to Wang Zenglu, "Bring that Roving Bandit we captured—the small one."

Wang Zenglu squeezed out of the crowd and left to carry out the order, while the surrounding Community Soldiers remained seething with fervor.

By this time Wang Wenyao had finished writing the reply. He dried it, sealed it, and handed it to Pang Yu. Then a Guard drew his bow and shot it back. A burst of cheers rose from the city wall. The waiting Bandit Cavalry rider spurred his horse forward, bent down to pick up the letter-arrow, then immediately turned and headed toward the Yellow Banner.

Pang Ding, standing nearby, said in a low voice, "Young master, didn't you say not to provoke the Roving Bandits?"

"Now they are provoking me." Pang Yu stared at the large red banner. "When you have time, go burn that rope we hid."

"What if the city falls..."

"Then it won't be needed either. By then I'll already be dead on the city wall. I meant what I said—a man must keep his word."

Pang Ding wanted to say more, but a wave of cursing rose all around them. That young Roving Bandit was being escorted over. His whole body was covered in blood and grime, bound tightly with ropes, held by two men. He bit his lip and kept darting glances left and right.

As he passed, all the Community Soldiers rained fists and kicks upon him, and some even shouted, "Burn him to death!"

Pang Yu stopped the crowd, grabbed the youth with one hand, and pressed him against the gap in the battlements. The youth was already quite badly wounded. The moment Pang Yu let go, he crumpled toward the ground, but the two Guards beside him immediately propped him up.

Everyone knew what Pang Yu was about to do and crowded around.

Pang Yu took a Short Spear from the hands of a Community Soldier beside him, turned around, and suddenly rushed at the youth. The Long Spear stabbed out viciously. The spearhead pierced through the young Roving Bandit's back. The youth's head tilted backward, a gurgling sound came from his throat, and then he fell silent.

The Community Soldiers watching burst into loud cheers. By now, no one there knew what pity was anymore.

The spearhead had not pierced all the way through. Pang Yu pushed forward with all his might, and the spearhead finally burst through the youth's chest. Pang Yu continued to shove the Long Spear with force. The shaft slowly advanced along the wound, until at last half of it had passed through the man's chest. Only then did Pang Yu let go.

"Hemp rope!"

A moment later, the youth's corpse dropped in free fall, until the rope around his neck pulled taut. The corpse gave a violent shudder, then began to swing left and right. The sudden stop had snapped the corpse's neck bones. The corpse's head drooped at a grotesque angle.

A heaven-shaking cheer erupted from the city wall, while a clamor rose from the Roving Bandit ranks. They shouted furious curses toward the city wall, and the city wall shouted back with equal fervor, as if both sides wished to kill the enemy with sound waves alone.

Tens of thousands of people above and below the wall, who had never met one another, needed only a single day to become mortal enemies.

The red-clad corpse swayed above the South Fragrance Gate, while wave after wave of impassioned shouts rose from the city wall.

"This city won't be easy to take." Geli Yan narrowed his slit-like eyes and shook his head, looking as if he had not yet woken up. "When assaulting a city, don't make the defenders fight to the death."

"Planting a few heads is exactly to shatter their courage." The Sweeping King's face was covered in a curly, full beard. He looked at Geli Yan with displeasure. "Fighting to the death isn't something you can just will yourself to do. I've seen more cities than I can count. Death struggle or not, if it's meant to fall, it falls. Once inside the city, they all kneel on the ground begging for mercy. We roam the world for nothing more than pleasure. Overthinking everything—what's the fun in that?"

Geli Yan said expressionlessly, "Then please, Sweeping King, you go first."

"First it is. If I take it and anyone follows me into the city, don't blame me for being rude."

Geli Yan let out a cold sneer. "Don't worry. No matter how clean you sweep it, I wouldn't care for the scraps."

Zhang Xianzhong chuckled twice, spurred his horse between the two men, and put an arm around each. "We're brothers. Don't squabble and give the people inside that city an advantage. Forget who goes first or last. Since we're a Combined Camp, we attack together. When the city falls, you two divide the spoils first. I'm the Dongjia—I'll take the last share."

Both men were wild and untamable, and neither responded to Zhang Xianzhong's words.

Seeing that neither man spoke, Zhang Xianzhong withdrew his arms and said angrily, "Donkey balls! You both thought highly enough of me to join this Combined Camp. There's no point hurting our harmony over a county seat. If we don't fight together in the future, that's another matter. But today—can we fight together or not? Give me an answer."

Geli Yan's narrow eyes flicked toward the Sweeping King, then he said to Zhang Xianzhong, "Old Eight, you set the drum signal."

"Big Drum."

Without another word, Geli Yan yanked his horse's head around and left.

The Sweeping King glared at his retreating back and said savagely, "I plant a few heads, and when does it become his place to talk?"

Zhang Xianzhong patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "Taking the city is what matters."

The Sweeping King gave a snort and spurred his horse toward Wuyin Temple, the Red Banner beside him hurrying to follow.

Zhang Xianzhong licked his lips, blew out a wad of snot with a sharp snort, and conveniently wiped his hand on the headscarf of a Servant nearby.

Zhang Xianzhong's smile faded. "Who wrote that letter just now?"

A High Shine from the old camp beside him said in a low voice, "Replying to you, sir: it was written by a Child Army recruit we took in at Gushi. He was originally a bookboy in a Tongsheng's household. He knows a few characters, so we had him write it."

"Why did that government dog say the character 'fly' was written wrong?"

The High Shine did not know how to answer. Zhang Xianzhong's army basically never kept any Xiucai alive, and they had killed another batch before leaving Henan. There was no one in the camp who could write, so they had no choice but to find a bookboy. Writing a character wrong was perfectly normal.

The High Shine looked left and right and saw that no one was stepping in to help him out. He had no choice but to steel himself and say, "This subordinate will summon that child for questioning. If he did write it wrong, he must be punished."

"Punish him for what?" Zhang Xianzhong wiped his nostril with the back of his hand. "Even if it's wrong, he got fifteen out of sixteen characters right. He's useful to keep around. Take good care of him."

The High Shine breathed a sigh of relief. It was not that he feared the bookboy being punished, but that he feared being implicated himself.

Zhang Xianzhong chuckled. "Fly to Take Tongcheng. The government dogs say it's wrong, but I say it's written exactly right. Fly over and take it. Xiao Wazi!"

"Your child is here."

"Your brother died at this place. If you want revenge, first break the city."

"Awaiting your orders, sir."

"Go and take command of your sentry's Child Army. The Upper Fifth Post enters the city first. I'll make you a Long Family."

Xiao Wazi's bright eyes flickered. "Thank you, sir, for the honor."

A quarter of an hour later, a roll of drums sounded from the Roving Bandits' South Suburb formation. A skyward howl erupted from the Bandit ranks.

Amid earth-shaking battle cries, a tide of people like a vast ocean came swarming toward the city wall.